TOBY JUGS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19800, 27 May 1926, Page 7

TOBY JUGS.

According to tradition, Toby jugs are said to have originally been made in the likeness of Old Tofav Philpot, as thirsty a soul As e’er drank a bottle or fathomed a bowl. It is also possible that the idea mar have been an adaptation of the sixteenth and seventeenth century wine flasks known as “Rellarmines,” or in German “Barttnan” (bearded man.) These showed the mash of a bearded man under the rim of the neck (writes G. Baseden Butt, in the Daily Chronicle.) In the hands of such great eighteenth century potters as Ralph Wood, Thomas Whieldon. and John Astbury, the appearance of “Old Toby” soon underwent great variation. He is usually short, corpulent, with a jug of ale on his knee, and almost always wears a three-cornered hat. Collectors to-day may look for the “Sailor,’* seated on a chest of dollars; the “Postboy,” astride a barrel; the portly “Snufftaker,” or “The Old English Gentleman,” who, nothwithstanding his genteel demeanour, holds a glass in one hand and a jug in the other. There are also Kelson, Napoleon, and Frederick the Great Tobies—a custom of portraiture which still persists, for in modern examples one finds such national heroes as Admiral Jellicoe and Lord Kitchener. Genuine antique Tobies may be distinguished by brown veining due to discoloration of the lead glaze. A more certain indication is the presence of iridescent rainbow colours, but this is only found if the glaze is on a dark body. In addition to jugs, there are Toby mugs ; and rather less known are the inkpots, salt-cellars, mustard-pots, and teapots. also modelled in the likeness of "Old Tobv.”